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“And I agreed.”

A small part of me feels guilty for pressuring him into it. “It won’t work unless you want it to,” I tell him. “You have to be open about, well, everything. Can you do that?”

His thumb pressure eases, and he strokes it over my skin. “I have no choice. I have to keep you, so I’ll do anything to make that happen.”

It should scare me, the intensity that he says it with, but the only thing scaring me is the thought that with therapy, that could go away. That if he does heal himself, then he might not want me anymore.

I still want it to happen though. Because I want Lynx to be happy more than I want to be happy myself.

And maybe if we’re really lucky, we’ll get to make each other happy. For a really long time.

“Then I’m not leaving. Ever. You’ll have to chase me away.”

His lips kick up in the corners. “The only time I’ll let you run is when I’m planning to catch you again.”

That something in my chest gets bigger. So consuming I have the urge to cry. “I’m going to get better, you know. At finding my way around.”

“Good. Then I can prove to you that it doesn’t matter where you are, I will find you.” His nose nudges my ear. “Take away all my senses, and I’d still find my way back to you.”

I steer his face back so I can meet his eyes. The feel of his dark, scratchy growth somehow makes him more human this morning, and I love the roughness to it. As much as I want him to get better, I never want to lose the animal side of him. “All I’ve ever wanted was for someone to choose me.”

Lynx frowns at that. “I didn’t choose you. I never would have chosen this. You’re like a sickness, an infection, one that I can’t draw out. You make me feel feverish and out of control, and it terrifies me how easily you worm your way into my head. The universe chose you for me, and I was powerless against it.”

For the first time ever, I understand exactly what Lynx is trying to say. From anyone else, it would sound like an insult, and for too long, I’ve taken his words that way. But from Lynx, the words have my pulse racing as I recognize what he’s telling me. I know how deeply his fears go, and the fact that he has those fears and is embracing this anyway is the biggest gift he could give me. “I love you too,” I whisper.

His mouth is on mine in seconds, and he kisses me like he’s trying to eat me whole. He pushes back inside me, and even though it fucking hurts, I don’t make him stop. I want this. The raw need. The way he fucks me like he can’t help himself. I’m as addicted to him as he is to me, and even though I’ve come so many times that I can’t get hard, him fucking me brings something else out instead. This deep satisfaction that I’ve found my home.

I grip his hair and make him meet my eyes. “Tell me I own you.”

He lets out a heavy exhale. “Collar me, rabbit. I’m yours.”

The thought of that almost gets me hard again. Almost. But then Lynx shudders, coming even though I doubt there’s cum left in him.

He’s out of breath when his mouth swoops down by my ear. “I’m under your spell.” His lips follow his words in a hard kiss. “And I never want you to set me free.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-THREE

LYNX

Wilde scrubs harder at the bloodstains on the floor, and I cross my arms as I look down at him.

“Why are you bothering?” I ask, looking around at the cabin that will forever hold my nightmares. “You should burn them all down.”

“Too much hard work to be lost. And then where would we put the outsiders?”

I want to bite back that there shouldn’t be any outsiders, but I remind myself that it’s not reasonable. Look at that, my first therapy appointment is kicking in already. Apparently, I have control issues, and trying to control the things I can’t has made me deeply unhappy. If she were any good at her job, she’d know I was deeply unhappy before all that. But now I have Sasha. My single source of happiness. And these houses remind me of how completely out of control my world really is. “Planning on inviting more?” I ask instead.

“You know I hate people coming here as much as you do⁠—”

“And yet your little pet is still working on making exactly that happen.”

Wilde’s jaw tics. “He’ll figure something out. I know he will.”

The confidence in his voice throws me. “What makes you so sure?”

“It’s Hudson. He’s never given me a reason to doubt him.”